EtherDelta Exchange Review

Ether Delta is a brand-new decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that launched back in 2017 and has since earned a pretty good reputation in such a short time by experienced trade professionals.

Ether Delta essentially functions as one large smart contract. These smart contracts will be what oversees all of the exchanges main functions including all deposits, withdrawals, trades and the sites wallet integration.

It is this feature that really marks Ether Delta out as being fully decentralized and an exchange that offers all users more control than what they will find at any of the more mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges.

This exchange requires no account authentication and in fact, not even an account. The smart contracts essentially let you keep hold of the private keys that you can then use to deposit and withdraw from the Etha Delta wallet without the exchange ever knowing them or holding them.

We feel that this is ground-breaking and really shows the meaning of what decentralization really should be.

This exchange has was designed with a sole focus on the Etherium blockchain and therefore only allows for the trading of Ethereum and ERC20 tokens. While this might seem quite limiting when you consider the level of security and control that you now have, you will know that you are not going to be able to trade in such anonymity anywhere else.

Have we wet your lips with anticipation of know more? Then read on!

The Interface

Once you power up Ether Delta for the very first time, it might take a little getting used to. It will also look a little basic and lack somewhat in sophistication when compared to some of the more popular cryptocurrency exchanges. However, if you just stick with it, you will quickly see that it is among the most efficient and streamlined exchanges out there.

Everything has been laid out in a very compact manner as everything you need is right there in the same place. There is no need to go clicking on drop-down menus to find what you are looking for on this platform!

Not Creating an Account

Another surprising aspect of Ether Delta is that there is actually no need to even open an account. This is because the smart contracts that power this exchange instead allow you to integrate your own Ethereum wallet into the platform so that you can manage your own funds directly.

You have four main options here, you can:

Either import an existing Ethereum wallet that you have or,

Create a new one on the exchange or,

Sync a Ledger Nano S account

Sync a Meta Mask account

We will go into more depth what each of these options means in the next section but many of you will probably already have the gist of it.

Trading on Ether Delta

When it comes to trading on Ether Delta, you first have to transfer the coins you want to trade from your wallet to the exchange’s wallet. This is done using the ‘balance’ section of the screen which you will to the left.

Using this you can just use the deposit button to then fill in how many of the ETH or ERC20 tokens that you want to deposit into the Ether Delta wallet.Once you have done that, you will be notified by a little pop up on the screen of an Etherscan address that you can use to keep track of your transaction.

You are then done and while it might seem like a bit of a painstaking process, it is far more secure and is actually very straightforward once you get used to it.

Creating or Importing an Ethereum Account

Your first two options are to either integrate your own Ethereum account into Ether Delta or have one created.

The former requires you to import this account via the option in the ‘select account’ drop-down menu. You then just fill in the required fields by adding the address of your account and its private key.

If you do not have an account, you can just have one created for you here as well. You will be given a new wallet with a unique wallet key and also the private key associated with that account.

Make sure you keep these details somewhere safe and secure. Losing the private key, in particular, has the potential to cause big headaches as you will never be able to gain access to the account again and your funds will be lost.

Ledger Nano S

If you the owner of a Ledger Nano S, you should seriously think about using this option as its probably the best of them all. The Ledger Nano will be recognized by Ether Delta as long as you have enabled contract data and activated browser support on your device.

The funds that are stored in the Ledger will instantly show up in the balance box on Ether Delta and you just have to confirm via the Ledger any transactions that you have sent.

Meta Mask

Meta Mask is essentially a software version of the Ledger and while it is not quite as secure, it certainly a good alternative to happen. This works in a similar way and is actually a Chrome plug-in that holds your private keys instead.

Trading Pairs

As Ether Delta focuses only on the Ethereum blockchain, the only trading pairs you are going to see are Ethereum itself and the various ERC20 tokens. There is a good amount of these tokens, however, so there is plenty of choices there when it comes to trading.

Below are just a small selection of those tokens that will be available in trade pairs with ETH:

Mobile Apps

Understandably, there are no mobile apps for Ether Delta right now due to being such a small exchange and one that is still very new. In fact, judging by the whole ethos of this exchange, we are not even sure an app is something they would even be interested in developing.

They embrace privacy and anonymity and apps are never going to provide that. Perhaps a downloadable client would be a decent idea down the line though.

Accepted Payment Methods

As mentioned earlier in this review, the only currencies that you can use to deposit or withdraw on Ether Delta are those that are on the Ethereum blockchain itself or Etherium. These will all come straight from your own wallet and directly into the wallet of Ether Delta.

You control the whole process yourself and can even track all of the transactions that you make with that wallet.

Transaction Fees

We feel that the transaction fees are all very straightforward and certainly competitive.

Deposit

When making a deposit of ETH you will be charged a fee of 0.0003 while all ERC20 tokens will incur a fee of 0.0002.

Withdraw

As for withdrawals, ETH carries a fee of 0.0001 and the tokens will cost you 0.0002.

Trading

All trades carry a fee of 0.0003 while any cancelled orders will set you back 0.0002.

Transaction Limits

As of writing this review, there are no limits on the amount of cryptocurrency that you either depositor withdraw on Ether Delta in terms of the maximum you can move but there is a minimum amount of 0.001. There is also a cap on the number of active orders you are allowed at a time – with that cap being a maximum of five buying and selling orders each.

Countries Supported

This one is quite straightforward and arguably the whole reason cryptocurrencies are what they are. All countries are supported and all identities are kept anonymous. Your name, personal information and everything else stays with you and you just control your own wallet and fund on the exchange.

This means that anyone who has a wallet will be able to use the platform without any restrictions.

Customer Support

Ether Delta is very much a stripped down exchange that is almost at its bare bones and that is what many will find appealing. This extends to the customer support as well, which is so stripped back that you actually get to ask your questions directly to representatives of the company rather customer support agents.

There is a real community spirit at Ther Delta too, with them also able to answer questions you might have in the same support chat that you can speak to the company reps.

Community Trust

It would be foolish to suggest anything other than the size of the Ether Delta community is certainly on the small size. However, those that are a part of the community absolutely love what it stands for and the fact that it offers fantastic security by allowing users themselves to control their own funds.

Zack Coburn is the man that founded Ether Delta and he is a guy that likes to keep himself to himself. He is an entrepreneur with a very impressive CV and somebody you just know is going places in the cryptocurrency world.

We like how he has just got on with this in a quiet manner and while the lack of noise might have gone against him in such a loud industry, we are sure that as word spreads on Ether Delta, the masses will eventually come.

Safety

Ether Delta has to be one of the safest exchanges available right now due to being extremely decentralized and through using smart contracts that handles such things as wallet integration on the site. How can an exchange account be hacked when there is no account in the first place?

In a standard cryptocurrency exchange, your funds are kept on that exchange, in a password-protected account. You might have security features such as 2FA but all the while your funds are on that exchange, you have no real control over them. Your private keys are also held on the exchange as well.

Instead, Ether Delta hands you the power to your own funds as there is no account to place them in. You are the one with the private keys and Ether Delta has no clue what these keys are let alone holds them for you.

We don’t think there are many other exchanges that can come anywhere close to the security and control that Ether Delta gives to its users.

Conclusion

Ether Delta is certainly different and without a doubt, it is very difficult to get your head around and work out in the beginning but once you have messed around with it a few times, you realise just how streamlined it is.

We love the fact that the trader has a level of power over his own transactions and that an account is not even needed on Ether Delta, let alone an account that needs to be verified. You don’t even have to stop with integrating a single wallet into Ether Delta either, as you can have multiple wallets into the smart contracts that power the exchange.

On the flip side, however, while many will be in awe of this exchange, others will be put off instantly. Firstly, users may feel overwhelmed with having to learn something that at first seems so complicated. They just want to be able to log into an exchange and start trading without having to educate themselves. Furthermore, a lack of trading pairs and cryptocurrencies will also turn some people away.

We love it though and think that it has a great chance of turning into something that many of the crypto worlds will embrace.